If
of Hagia Sophia, a museum now. To pause
among its marble splendors, to contemplate
the mighty dome intermediary with heaven,
is both a sadness and an affirmation. The
rich circumstance has vanished; the mind
struggles to conjure the pomp of a hundred
Varangian Guardsmen trooping with their
axes behind a newly crowned emperor. But
the majesty of Hagia Sophia can still stir the
soul, as it did the Emperor Justinian when in
the sixth century he completed the church:
"I have surpassed thee, O Solomon!"
A Viking also left his humble imprimatur.
You must climb to a high balustrade in the
south gallery if you would see the only living
sign of a Northman from the glory days. A
few runes cut in the marble railing, worn
and embossed with pigeon droppings, have
been deciphered. They spell "Halvdan," a
name of Viking-age currency.
The Viking age: in time, a mere 250 or so
years; in place, the known world and be
yond. The fief of those adventurers who
took the eastern road extended from Scandi
navia to wild Slav rivers to the Caspian and
Black Seas to Constantinople.
The passage of such as these transcends
finite dimensions. Epic journeys belong to
immortality. For the Rus, that is requiem
enough.
[]
Viking Trail East
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